Comparison of Make-Your-Own Greeting Card Services: Zazzle

As some of you already know, I've been gradually building my greeting card collection at my Cafepress shop; you can see some samples above. I'm using Cafepress for now because I have a Premium Shop there, but I'm also investigating other services in case I can find something better. Feel free to put in a request for any favourite cartoons/images I've posted in Blatherings, Inkygirl or other sites in the past, and I'll see if I have a high-res version that's suitable for a card.

Here are collections of some of my images; feel free to suggest any image for a card:
Sketchbook
Writing cartoons

Also feel free to suggest a particular strip from any comic series I've done in the past. Please note that making a suggestion does not obligate you to buy the card. :-)

For my service comparison, I'm focusing on those that will enable me to upload a digital picture and enable people to buy printed cards online. I made a feeble attempt to do the research a couple years ago, but was overwhelmed by the variety of choices.

This time I decided to go about it somewhat more methodically. Before you read any further, you should be warned that if you want to save the most money and can afford to print your cards in bulk (hundreds at a time) or want to be able to oversee the process (e.g. colour tweaks, etc.) throughout, you'd probably be better off going to a local printing service.

My situation, however, is different. Time is more valuable to me right now than money...I would rather take a cut in profit and have someone else manage the printing, selling and administration, packing and mailing. I would rather take the time saved and put it toward my writing or illustrating.

I focused on researched well-established services to decrease the chances that they'd go out of business anytime soon, and so I'd be able to find more reviews online. I also wanted a service that a big enough presence online that people might find my cards through the main site rather than always through my blogs.

I also wanted to make sure that any service I used would not try to grab copyright beyond what it needed to print my cards.

Please keep in mind that these findings are based on my own experience. For each of the services I'll be mentioning, there were always people who had bad experiences with the company as well as people who were loyal fans of the service.

I heard good things about Zazzle, so I decided to check them out first. Zazzle lets users create a wide variety of customized products (t-shirts, etc.) but I'm focusing on their greeting card services. I'll be covering other services in future Blatherings.

I recently got a Zazzle mailing, by the way, announcing their launch of Profile Cards (which look a LOT like MOO cards) and multi-sized Business Cards.

But right now I'm focusing on Zazzle's make-your-own greeting card services:

Factor	Remarks	Rating
Copyright/image protection	Only smaller, low-res images are available to the public. Artist keeps all rights.
User interface	Clean design.
Set-up experience	Easy-to-user interface. Optional customizations include uploading own header image or choose from templates.
Quality of product	Good heavyweight card stock. Colours seemed a bit dark to me. Zazzle logo on the back, but at least the user can upload his/her own image to the back as well.
Price of cards/shipping	More expensive than other services.
Artist payment.	Standard royalty rate is 10%, but you can select a rate up to 99%.
Marketing tools.	Tools/widgets to help you sell cards on MySpace and Facebook, send-to-a-friend, invite-a-fan and fan club, share this URL, create HTML link to your gallery, Zazzle Flash panel to add to your blog.

Here's what the cards cost:

I ordered 10 note cards (4" x 5.6") for US$2.19 each and 10 greeting cards (5" x 7") for $2.49 each.

Someone buying a single card from Zazzle would pay $2.49 for a note card and $2.99 for a greeting card, which is more expensive than other services I checked out.

Here are their shipping costs, within the U.S.:

Airmail to Canada/Overseas: 1-9 cards $3.99, 10-49 cards $12.99, 50-99 cards $29.99.

Description of card stock from the website:

"Ultra-heavyweight (120#) card stock with a gloss finish. Printed with a unique process that imparts a rich depth of imagery and an almost 3D-like effect. Each card comes with a matching envelope.

Free boxed sets for orders of 10 or more."

Payment/Commission to artists:

From their Nonexclusive License Agreement:

"Royalty. Zazzle will pay you a royalty for all sales of Public Products incorporating your Design ("Royalty"). Zazzles standard royalty rate is 10% ("Standard Royalty Rate"), but you have the option of selecting any royalty rate between 10% and 99% (in increments of .1%) for each of your Designs as incorporated in each Product category ("Your Royalty"). If you select a royalty rate greater or less than 10%, Zazzle will change the retail price to reflect the increased royalty rate payable to you."

Copyright

Good image security; only smaller, low-res images are available to the public. Artists keep all rights. You can specify whether or not you're allowing your image to be changed or incorporated into other people's creations (I always say no).

Extra customization

Unlike the other services I've looked at so far, Zazzle allows a user to add an image to the back of the card:

The cards themselves were of excellent quality. The image printed out a bit darker than how it looks on the screen.

User interface and Marketing tools

Clean user interface design, and of all the services I checked out, I found Zazzle the easiest for uploading a new image and posting it for sale in your own customized gallery. They have a variety of templates to choose from (one-click to change the look of your Gallery) or you can upload your own image.

Zazzle also provides you with HTML you can paste into your blog or social networking profile (like MySpace) to display your "Zazzle Panel."

SUMMARY

Good quality cards, but the cost/card is a tad higher than I'd like. In order to make any profit, I'd have to charge a user even more. I'm going to keep looking, and will post results here.

Follow-up on the death of Gary Gygax:

Order of the Stick tribute

XKCD tribute



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WWFC, Gary Gygax, and B5

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Thanks so much to mickeydaily for the inspiration! Printed cards available in my Cafepress shop.

In case any of you haven't heard yet, Gary Gygax died on Tuesday; he was 69. Gygax helped create the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons.

My D&D characters back in my university days:

Rowena, a magic user: My very first D&D character. Somewhat wimpy because I didn't really know what I was doing. Tom West's campaign.

Charity, a hobbit thief: Andy Beaton's campaign.

I also had characters in campaigns by John Chew (took place in Japan), Reid Ellis (a Heroes campaign), and Mark Thompson (Xlaw game, I think). My favourite campaigns were ones with a strong storytelling element, rather than the "kill lots of monsters and get gold" focus.

Anyway, I added a short message to the BoardGameGeek thread about Gary Gygax. Reading through all the posts, including some of Gary's friends, it's clear that his death has affected many.

Here's an excerpt from my own post:

---

I still remembering eagerly waiting for my copy of the original D&D boxed set to arrive in the mail when I ordered it after reading about it in Games magazine. I also still have my original players' manual.

I tried playing with my family (I was the DM, though I didn't really know what I was doing) but it was too scary for my younger brother and sister so we never played it again.

I went to my high school Games Club because I heard they were playing D&D, but quit when it became clear that the guys were incredibly uncomfortable with having a girl playing with them. It was only in university that I started actually playing the game on a regular basis.

Like many others who have already posted, D&D was a big influence in my life in my younger years, both in the friends I made -many of whom are still my friends- and the worlds it opened up for me in terms of storytelling and personal growth; I was pretty shy; roleplaying helped me come out of my shell.

---

Condolences to Gary's family and friends.

B5V Updates:

Warning: The following posts contain -many- Babylon Five spoilers.

Season 1, Episode 19: A Voice In The Wilderness (part 1)

Season 1, Episode 19: A Voice In The Wilderness (part 2)



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A thank you letter, B5 and cookbooks

After my brother and his wife died in a car accident nearly 15 years ago, the University of Waterloo established the Jim and Diane Ohi Memorial Award, which is granted annually to "a graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who demonstrates the qualities of leadership and a high level of academic achievement." My family donated some of the money, but the bulk was raised by the staff and students of the university.



This year, the recipient of the award wrote to my father, who forwarded it to Ruth and me; he says he is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UoW, and will be an assistant professor at the University of Toronto Institute of Technology this fall. An excerpt from his letter: "It is indeed a great honor to receive this prestigious award. Also, I want to take this chance to thank you for your generosity, and wish that someday I can pay a visit to you and know more about Jim and Diane Ohi."

This was the first time we had ever heard from an award winner; we never expect it, so were surprised and deeply touched that this Ph.D. student had taken the time to write a thank you letter.

Follow-up from yesterday's Blathering

Allison has pointed out that this year is the 100th anniversary of the original publication of Anne Of Green Gables. You can see her memorabilia collage in Flickr (move your mouse over any item to see her note about it).

I've updated Babylon Five Virgin with episode reports for "Eyes" and "Legacies."


Photo by Allison

Thanks to those who answered my cookbook survey. Here are some of your suggestions:

Cook's Illustrated magazine, How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food by Nigella Lawson,The Joy Of CookingHow to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson, Mrs Beeton's Household Management by Mrs. Beeton, Boston School of Cooking cookbook by Fannie Farmer, Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos, Fix-it And Forget-it Lightly - Healthy, Low-fat Recipes For Your Slow Cooker , How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, Settlement Cookbook, Larousse Gastronomique, Anthimus's De Observatione Ciborum (On the Observance of Foods), The Clueless Vegetarian by Elaine Raab, three Monastery Cookbooks by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette: Twelve months of Monastery Soups, From a Monastery Kitchen, and Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen, Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes, Essential cookbook series, Delicious magazine, Cook's Illustrated magazine (Delicious U.S.), Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker , The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, Boston School of Cooking cookbook by Fanny Farmer, Fear of Frying by James Barber.

Video O' The Day: Star Wars vs Saul Bass

Thanks to my friend Ray for pointed me to this video. From the description of the video: "If Star Wars was filmed two decades earlier and Saul Bass did the opening title sequence, it might look like this... This was a school project. The song is Machine by the Buddy Rich Band off the album Big Swing Face (1967)."





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Before Green Gables

A few weeks ago I was out for a weekend walk when I noticed that there was something going on at The Flying Dragon, one of my favourite bookstores in Toronto. I never turn down an excuse to visit a bookstore, of course, so I decided to check out what was happening.

And I'm so glad I did. Nova Scotia writer Budge Wilson was doing a book signing! My sister had introduced me to Ms. Wilson's works, and The Leaving remains one of my all-time favourite short story collections for young people.

With only ten minutes left until the store's closing time (and cursing myself for not walking by earlier), I stood mesmerized by a story Ms. Wilson was telling to onlookers. When it became clear that she was about to end her bookstore visit, I finally asking the author to sign my newly-purchased book.

"Oh dear, have you been waiting for me to sign your book?" Ms. Wilson said, smiling. "You should have interrupted me."

Yeah, right. Like I'm going to interrupt BUDGE WILSON telling a story!

I only had a chance to glance at the cover of the book before buying it, so didn't really know much about it; I just knew that I couldn't turn down an opportunity to have Ms. Wilson sign one of her books, and I was sure I'd enjoy anything she had written.

When I got home and looked at the book more closely, however, I admit to having doubts. Before Green Gables: a PREQUEL to Anne of Green Gables? Even if it was authorized by L.M. Montgomery's heirs, I still wondered about the author herself would have felt about this. I've also never been crazy in general about prequels and sequels written by people other than the original author.

I started reading with great trepidation, but found myself caught up in the story almost immediately. I admit it's been a while since I read the original book, but as far as I'm concerned, Ms. Wilson did an excellent job at conveying Anne's early childhood.

I'm sure Annie of Green Gable purists out there are going to be outraged by this book no matter how well it's written and part of me can sympathize, but in the end I found it a satisfying read that enhanced my whole Annie experience rather than detracting from it.



Speaking of books....

I'm still loving my slow cooker, and my favourite slow cookbook is definitely Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann (pictured above, on the right).

I'm starting to experiment with making side dishes and even desserts with our slow cooker. Last night, for instance, I made Crock-Roasted Root Vegetables (p135 in the cookbook mentioned above). It was super-easy to prepare, mainly because I bought packages of pre-chopped squash and turnip to reduce the chances of aggravating my tendinitis.

I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake (p426) in the slow cooker when my sister and her family came over for dinner. It's not the prettiest dessert in the world but holy cow, it was yummy. I served it with ice cream.



One reason I like this cookbook so much is because it doesn't just have recipes; the authors explain the principles of why certain techniques work and don't work in a slow cooker, as well as how certain kinds of meat and vegetables are best prepared and why. I also enjoy reading some of the brief stories behind certain recipes, and the personal anecdotes.

My only complaint: the lack of nutritional info. My copy of the cookbook is already well-thumbed and marked up with post-it notes and scribbled annotations, but if they came out with a new version that had nutritional info, I'd be buying another copy for sure.

Survey for you cooks out there: what's YOUR current favourite cookbook?

Added two new episode reports to Babylon Five Virgin: "Grail" and "TKO." I'll be adding two more later today or tomorrow.



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Power Grid, gaming, and gaming comics

I went to gaming with Jeff on Friday night. I go every so often, taking my laptop and Wacom Artpad as well as other entertainment devices (including books). Even though I usually don't play, I sometimes like just hanging out in the same room because the conversation is almost always entertaining.

Last Friday, however, I actually did some gaming. I played Trans America (a short and fun game with easy rules, identical to Trans Europa
except you're building your railway across the U.S. instead of Europe) with Hrach and Scott, and then Power Grid with Jeff, Reid, John, and Iain. I've been playing board games most of my life, but mostly the casual party type (Monopoly, Hearts, Pictionary, etc.).



Then Jeff introduced me to games like Carcassonne, which involves a strategy that goes beyond just rolling a dice and move your marker around a board to get to the end. These types of games aren't for those with short attention spans or for casual parties.

I enjoy playing both types of games, but I find these more complex games more satisfying in many ways and (as long as I'm awake for them) enjoy the amount of focus they take. Sort of like reading an engrossing 400-page novel compared to reading a magazine, I suppose.



As I've mentioned before, I've tended to avoid playing games with Jeff's group because they usually play so late at night. Now that I've decided to go to the BoardGameGeek convention with Jeff this year, however, I figured I should try to familiarize myself with some of the more popular games. I want to play a bunch of new games at the convention, of course, but I suspect that if I have to learn a complex set of rules over and over throughout each day, it might get wearing.



Above: Scott's hand-painted minis for the first edition of RoboRally. Or at least he did some of them, anyway.

But I digress. I enjoyed playing Power Grid, but I have a LOT to learn. I only survived the game because the guys were coaching me throughout - the rules are more complex than games I usually play, and we didn't START playing the game until 10 pm, which is around the time I usually start thinking about crashing(!).



By the end of the game, I was barely conscious. :-) The game requires more and more math and complex strategies the closer you get to the endgame, but fortunately my game-mates were helping me out a ton. Here's proof that I managed to stay awake until 1:45 am, when the game ended:



Having played the game once, I think I have a (vaguely) better idea of overall play though I think I'll need a lot more experience before I fully grasp the subtleties of strategy. I also need more sleep.

Anyway, I've signed up for a BoardGameGeek account and have already run into jwordsmith as well as others from writing and sf communities. No filkers yet, though. If you're a member (or if you join), please let me know so I can add you to my GeekBuddy list. I'll be posting occasional gaming-related comics in my BGG gallery.

The gamers at BGG have been very welcoming/helpful, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of them in person this November.

Babylon Five Virgin Update

For those interested, I've updated Babylon Five Virgin, my blog about watching B5 for the first time. Please note there are MANY SPOILERS, so only click over if you've already watched the series.

Gaming comics

Here are a few comics I've posted to BGG (thanks to Jeff for his help with the Power Grid comic):





And you'll probably only get the next one if you've played Power Grid:





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